Mommy Mystique (cont.)

(A few notes to Fasheem, who brought up some points in reviews:

1. Well, he didn't throw her very hard.

2. I was planning, at some point, to have a flashback to show how "Shadowed Past" was different in this timeline. Still haven't worked that out. Maybe more towards the end. But it will be explained.)

The entire room sat there for a moment, stunned. The first person to leap to action was Kurt, who stood in front of his mother and declared, "I von't let you hurt her!"
"Do I look like I want to hurt her?" Magneto sighed. "Where can I put these?"
Rogue looked angry. "Ah don't think you were on the guest list!"
"Please . . . please don't." Mystique looked tired, and Logan went to her.

Everyone was completely silent as Magneto glared at the two of them.
"Step away from her," he said.
Logan gave him a look that would have melted steel. "She's my wife. I'm taking her home now."
"Not to my house you're not!"
"Father!" Pietro protested. "Don't do this!"
"This is what happens when I'm gone? You start . . . consorting with the enemy?"
Chairs started moving around. The centerpiece on one table flew through the air and hit the opposite wall.

"Get a grip, yo!" Toad pleaded.

"Please," Mystique whispered. She was still sitting in her guest-of-honor chair, and her arms were wrapped around her midsection like she was in pain. "Don't do this."

Magneto hesitated. "I can't stand this," he said. "I can't stand to see you carrying another man's children again!"
"If you call me a trollop again," Mystique hissed, "I will rip off your--"
"Aw, geez, look at the time! We should be cleaning up and going home!" Toad started to gather up some of the confetti on the floor. With his tongue.

"TOAD!"

"What?" He looked at them, as if it were perfectly natural for him to be vacuuming the floor with his tongue.

"You're grossin' us out, man." said Lance.

Magneto, meanwhile, was giving Logan and Mystique suspicious looks.

Kurt moved to protect them, and Mystique waved him away. "Don't start any trouble, Kurt."
"I'm not zhe vun who started it!"

"Easy, kid." Logan said. He looked at Magneto. "Let's you and I take this outside. That way nobody gets hurt."

Magneto hesitated . . . and from out of nowhere jumped, of all people, Wanda Maximoff.

Magneto stared at her in shock. He hadn't seen her in years . . . what was she doing here now?

She looked at her father. "What's going on?" she demanded. "Are you . . . involved with this woman?"
"He wishes," Logan said, and Magneto gave him a murderous look.

"Got a few hours, kid?" Logan said to Wanda.

"I'm afraid not," she said. "I have to leave soon . . ."

"But you just got here!"

"I know," Wanda said, "but--"

"But nothing," Magneto said. "You belong with your family."
She laughed. "Shame you didn't think of that before you dumped me like yesterday's garbage."
"Now listen here--"

"Where's your buddy the Professor?" Lance whispered to Jean. "We're about to have a riot on our hands."

"Um . . . we didn't exactly tell him about the party," she said.

"We're toast."

Pietro stepped in between his father and sister. "Now Wanda, don't do anything rash . . ."
"Oh, sure! Take his side!"
"I'm not taking anyone's side! Except maybe the side that paid a big deposit for this room and doesn't want to see it trashed."

"Deposit?"

"We had to rent this space, and it wasn't cheap."
Kitty was making "shut up" motions at him, but he didn't see her.

"We wanted to surprise Mystique with a baby shower . . ."

"I'm surprised," Mystique piped up. "I think I've had enough surprises tonight to last the rest of my life."

Wanda looked at her. "Are you all right?" she asked.
"Actually," Mystique said, "I think my water just broke."
If things had been tense before, they went into a panic now. Everyone was running around yelling at everyone else, which wasn't accomplishing much.

The only ones keeping their cool were Toad, Kurt, and Kitty, who helped Mystique up and brought her to the nearest car.
Then they realized that none of them could drive . . .

So Toad grabbed Logan. "C'mon, man! You gotta take her to the hospital! Now!"
"You sure about this?"

"Yeah!"

He looked to where Mystique waited in the car, an anxious expression on her face.
"But what about the rest of the party?"

"We'll call them from the hospital!"

"Our place is closer!" Scott said. "And we won't have to worry about keeping a low profile!"

"If you say so!" Toad slammed the car door and they were on their way.

(Next chapter: The one you've all been waiting for! The twins are born—will they be boys or girls? What will they look like? I'm working day and night to bring you the answer!)